


A Matter of Time

by missmichellebelle



Category: Glee RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, CCAUW, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-16
Updated: 2013-05-16
Packaged: 2017-12-12 01:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/805324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmichellebelle/pseuds/missmichellebelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Oh god, you're one of those."</p><p>"One of what?"</p><p>"One of those people from the internet that dresses up all weird and tries to convince people they're a time traveler."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Matter of Time

Chris is on his way home when he sees the guy. He's walking, for a change, because the weather is nice and he really only went to the drug store on the corner to get candy, so driving seemed a little superfluous.

It's not like Chris isn't used to seeing strange people on the streets of LA, but this guy is even strange in comparison to all of that. Chris isn't the sort to judge people by what they wear, but his eyes are drawn to this guy's outfit immediately. It's so fucking bizarre that his mind can't really quite come to terms with it, like it makes him so uncomfortable that he'd rather avert his eyes.

He looks honestly and hopelessly lost. Which isn't enough reason to stop, because people get lost all the time, that's what going into stores and asking for directions is for (or smart phones).

But Chris stops anyway.

"Um," he starts, and the guy looks at him immediately. "Sorry, but—"

"Hi!" The guy exclaims, his face lighting up immediately. His eyes widen, too, and he immediately steps closer—too close, actually, Chris is starting to feel a little uncomfortable.

"Um, hi…" Chris takes a step back, but the guy just follows after him. Maybe this was an incredibly bad idea. He's staring at Chris expectantly, and then starts to twist around him, like he's searching for something. Yeah, bad idea. "Are you okay?"

"Incredible," the guy breathes out in wonder, and looks up at Chris from where he was hovering around Chris's belly button, inspecting the buttons of his shirt. "No wires at all!"

"Are you lost?" Chris enunciates, and the guy stands up.

"I'm not sure, actually. It's very complicated."

"…uh huh." Chris lifts an eyebrow. He's about to just excuse himself and leave, but then he's getting poked in the chest repeatedly, and having his arm pinched. "What the fuck is your problem?!" Chris jerks back, nearly running into someone. The guy looks genuinely surprised.

"You have skin!" He shouts, loudly enough that people actually turn to look. Chris blushes, beet red.

"Well, yeah, pretty sure that's the norm…" Oh god, Chris should probably start running. Maybe he's a cannibal?

"How'd you get it? Did you grow it?" The guy asks, and Chris would think he was joking if he didn't sound and look so earnest.

"…okay, _you're_ crazy, and I'm just. I'm going to walk away now. If you follow me, I have a taser and I'm not afraid to use it." That's a lie, but the crazy weirdo doesn't know that.

"Taser?" He tilts his head to the side. "Define taser."

_Define—?_

"Um, you know—"

"Oh, I'm sorry, not you."

"…right, not me." Chris rocks back a step, and then another one, and he wishes he actually did have a taser. If he throws a Snickers at this guy, what are the chances he'll actually do damage?

"Oh!" The guy's eyes widen, and he immediately looks apologetic. "You think I'm dangerous."

" _Really?_ " Chris can't help the sarcasm dripping from his voice. "I thought threatening you meant I wanted to be your best friend."

The guy perks up.

"Is that the custom here?"

"The custom—where are you from? _Mars?_ "

"Don't be ridiculous." The guy laughs and shakes his head. "The colonies on Mars didn't last a year, it's completely uninhabitable."

"Completely…" Chris trails off, and then just starts walking away. What is this guy even _on_ about?

"Wait!"

Oh _no_ , he's following Chris, and Chris totally can't tase him.

"Please don't go! Was it something I said?"

Now people are staring. Chris feels humiliation burn up his neck, and then he turns around, grabbing the guy by the wrist and dragging him back to the small square of grass LA calls a park. It's out of the way enough that they aren't blocking foot traffic, but not so far away that this guy can attack him without Chris being able to scream for help.

"Look, I don't—I don't know if there's something wrong with you, or if you escaped from somewhere, or if you're just… Really in character for some con I didn't know was in town."

"Con?"

"The point is, you're freaking me out, so please just… Stay here, and don't follow me home, or I will call the police."

The guy looks contemplative for a bit, and then his face drops in a way that actually kind of breaks Chris's heart. Now that he's looking past the strange clothing (rich colors, and yet seems to reflect light as if it's metallic), the guy is pretty attractive.

Unfortunately, he's also pretty crazy.

"I'm sorry." He sounds it. "I haven't been here long, and I just… I got excited. No one had spoken to me yet, you were the first, and I just." He looks Chris straight in the eye, and Chris feels pinned to the spot. "You're so fascinating."

Chris blinks in surprise.

"But I didn't study up on your customs before I came here, although most of that data was lost in the Pentullaic War, so—"

"The pentaplatus what?"

The guy raises an eyebrow, like _he's_ the one thoroughly confused.

"The Pentullaic War, of 3487."

"34…" Chris shakes his head. "Oh god, you're one of _those_."

"One of what?"

"One of those people from the internet that dresses up all weird and tries to convince people they're a time traveler." Chris's face twists up in a mixture of disappointment and exasperation.

"But I—"

"Are you going to ask me what year it is?"

"It's 2020, isn't it?"

"…minus seven."

"Wow. Not a horrible overshot, but not exactly what I was aiming for."

Chris really just needs to leave. Maybe he'll just walk in circles for awhile until this guy loses interest.

Except then the guy is pulling up his sleeve and revealing some sort of metal ring around his wrist. He presses it with his finger, and it starts to ripple like something out of a sci-fi movie, revealing a screen. Chris stares at it, his mouth falling open.

"Oh. You guys still do that weird extra day thing, huh?" His eyebrows scrunch together. "I didn't figure that into my calculations."

"You…" No. It's just… Some weird, high tec gadget that Chris has never seen. This guy can't _actually_ … That's _impossible_.

"Oh, daylight savings time, too…"

"Who _are_ you?" Chris asks, exasperated, and it's loud enough that the guy jerks in response and looks up.

"Oh." He straightens, and holds out his hand. "Hi, I'm Darren."

"I…" Chris takes his hand. It _feels_ normal. But that question comes back to him. The one about whether or not his skin was _grown_. "Chris," he blurts, quickly, and then pulls his hand back. Darren stares down at his own palm in wonder, rubbing his fingers together.

"Your skin is _amazing_." He looks like he wants to touch it again.

"I… Um. Thanks?"

Darren grins at him, and then goes back to fiddling with his strange bracelet-cuff thing. Chris stares in wonder.

"You don't actually believe me, do you?" Darren presses his thumb to the cuff, and it falls back into a smooth surface.

"…not particularly, no. I think if I did, I might have to… Slap myself. Or check into some sort of hospital."

Darren looks up at him. He has really long eyelashes, and, alien or time traveler or freaky cosplayer, having a guy look at him like that still makes Chris's stomach flip. Darren then pulls up his other sleeve, where another cuff is wrapped around his wrist. But when he presses this one, a seam forms up the top and it swings open easily.

"I could show you?"

Chris's eyes widen.

"A-aren't there like rules? About this kind of stuff? Should you even be _talking_ to me?"

Darren cocks his head to the side.

"Why shouldn't I be able to talk to you?"

"I don't—like the butterfly effect. Like, if I step on a butterfly, I could change the entire world!"

"…do you make a habit of stepping on butterflies?" Darren seems the most concerned about that.

"Do I—no, of course not, I just—"

"Chris." Darren grins at him again. "Time is much more complicated than that. Whatever decision you make, time will be fine."

"…it will?"

"Is that the only reason you're hesitating? Because you don't want to fuck up time?"

"…wow, so they still say fuck where you're from?"

"Not excessively, but this isn't my first stop." Darren holds out the cuff. "What are you so afraid of?"

"That that weirdo bracelet is actually some sort of weird torture device." Chris eyes it warily. "…and that you might be telling the truth."

"It won't hurt you. It just completes the circuit. You need to put it on your right wrist, we hold hands, we'll be fine." Darren steps closer. "I can even drop you off closer to wherever you live when we're done."

"Really?"

"Well, I can try. It might take a few trips to get just right, sometimes the coordinates can get a little tricky."

Chris snorts, because, _of course_ , even time travel has glitches. But he finds himself picking up the bracelet and putting it around his right wrist. The second it touches his skin, it moves completely on its own, molding close to his wrist and sealing like it was never broken to begin with. Well, kind of hard to fake something like that.

"Where are we going?" Chris asks, unsure.

"2020! I was actually on my way to a concert."

Laughter bursts out of Chris, and Darren looks amused.

"What?"

"I just… You could go anywhere, and you're going to a concert."

"You couldn't tell by my clothes?" Darren frowns.

"…um, no. Maybe we should stop and get you something new to wear, because you look like you're going to a Halloween party as a… I'm not even sure." He looks closely at the sleeve of his weird jacket. "Why is it so shiny?"

"Oh, it's not. That's the wiring."

"…wiring?"

Darren laughs this time.

"Um. Wow, I'll explain on the way. Things are pretty different where I come from."

Chris feels a thrill shoot up his spine, because _oh my god_. He's actually doing this. Darren could take them to the center of a volcano, and he'd have no idea. Darren holds out his right hand, and Chris realizes he's still carrying his grocery bag.

"Um… Care for a Snickers?"

"I have no idea what that is, but okay."

"Wow, really? They don't have Snickers in the future? Never mind, I don't think I want to go."

But Darren laughs, grabbing Chris's hand and tugging him to stand by his side. Chris tucks his candy bars into his back pocket, and hopes that time travel doesn't make chocolate inexplicably melt.

"Ready?"

"Um… It doesn't _hurt_ , does it?"

"Why do you think I had to grow new skin?" Darren turns his head to look Chris in the eye very seriously.

"Wait, _what?_ "

"No, I'm just kidding, it doesn't hurt at all."

"That's not funny."

"I don't know, your face was pretty funny."

"Okay, I changed my mind, I don't want to—"

"Activate 2-4-2-6-2-7."

Chris closes his eyes, and grips hard at Darren's hand.

It's weird how much Darren gripping back calms him down.


End file.
